pt. 1. New settings for the novel -- Historical novel and the American romance -- American romance and new forms of fiction -- Appendix to part 1: Short story and the great American novel -- pt. 2. Debate over realism in the 1870s and 1880s -- Henry James and the art of fiction -- Genteel realism and regionalism -- Naturalism, veritism, and impressionism -- New romance -- Appendix to part 2: Henry James in the twentieth century.